MANAGING MULTIPLE WRITING PROJECTS WITHOUT GOING BANANAS: Guest Post by Linda S. Gunther

Working on a few writing projects simultaneously has become second nature to me. When it comes to juggling projects, I love it. I seek it out. I crave it. 

What I have to be careful of is not to take on too many projects at one time. The good news for me is that I’m also a finisher. I don’t tend to start projects and leave them dangling. I seek completion and to productize results. I also edit like mad but after maybe a dozen rounds of serious editing for each chapter, I’ll call it a day, hire a reasonably priced professional proofreader at least before I make the very final edits. For short stories, I rely on myself for editing and get feedback on my work from a weekly writers’ critique group and from a small group of trusted beta readers.

Should a writer focus on one project at a time or have 2-3 of them simultaneously in process?

The answer depends on personal style, how the individual writer prefers to work. The advantage of having at least a couple of projects going at a given time is that when you’re working on a big project (like a full-length novel or memoir), you can take a break, divert your attention and craft a short story (maybe in a completely different genre) or even write a poem or a personal essay. This foray into another arena may serve to stimulate your creativity and imagination on the bigger project. It does exactly that for me.

Putting energy into the second, smaller project frees my mind, and refreshes my writing. And often, the secondary project turns out to be a well-received high-quality product. When I get back to my bigger project (the novel or memoir) I’m more inventive and considerably more focused than when I left it.

Some authors work on multiple full -blown novels at one time.  Danielle Steel sometimes had five books in progress at once. There are many other well-known authors doing the same. Kristin Harmel definitely cranks out a myriad of amazing novels each year. That would likely be overload for me because having to track so many complex plots and characters in my head at a given time may not produce my best work. Perhaps I’m under-rating myself here. In reality, I have written close to 60 short stories in the past 18 months while writing my memoir and also do a weekly blog for developing writers. So, I definitely mix it up! It’s fun and feels like my personal playground. 

Along my writer’s journey, I’ve collected some tips for managing simultaneous writing projects:

• Manage your time and define (before the day starts) WHAT you are going to work on that day (which may include a combination of writing and marketing/social media or submitting to lit journals)
• Be careful not to spread your creative juices too thin. If you’re writing a chapter in your novel for two hours, then maybe edit one of your short stories for the next hour and post on social media for another thirty minutes.
• Avoid falling into the danger zone where you’re not finishing any of your projects. If you have too many open, whittle down the number of separate writing ventures. (I hear a lot of this happening from other writing colleagues.)
• Pay attention to the ‘bleeding’ of characters. For example, having one character in one genre be too similar in traits and characteristics to another character in a different genre you’re working in at the same time. Keep your characters as unique as possible.
• Take a break from one writing project and outline another. That way you don’t lose a brainstormed idea or concept. Instead, you capture it. And you can go back to that outline tomorrow and shape a first draft of the first chapter or write out the whole short story.

An over-riding perk to having multiple projects going at the same time is that you will undoubtedly build your writing portfolio. Because I have ventured outside my comfort zone, I now have a diverse published body of work.

Of course, there are days when I work on only one project. I give it my undivided focus often because I am at a critical stage in the work.

Many authors also have day jobs and/or young children who depend on them so they must do conscious planning and management of their available time to write. I am a Human Resources consultant and teach classes on the subject so I am balancing those work tasks with my writing.

Most important, I need to take care of myself. There’s more to my life than writing stories but I know that writing makes me happy and feeds the creative soul inside me.

***

Linda S. Gunther is the author of six suspense novels: Ten Steps from the Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost in the Wake, Finding Sandy Stonemeyer, Dream Beach, and Death is a Great Disguiser. Her memoir, A Bronx Girl was released in 2024. Many of her short stories and essays have appeared in a variety of literary journals across the globe. www.lindasgunther.com

Cartoon of the Day: Dogs

 

AUTHORS & THEIR CATS: CHESTER HIMES

Happy Caturday! 

Authors & their Cats: Chester Himes

The following is from a book called Writers and Their Cats, a book about writers and their cats by Alison Nastasi.  

Chester Himes, considered the father of the black American crime novel, wrote stories that mirrored the real-life violence and racism happening in the world around him. “American violence is public life, it’s a public way of life, it became a form, a detective story form,” he once said. “So I would think that any number of black writers should go into the detective story form.”

One reprieve from the chaos of everyday life was Himes’s cats, particularly his blue-point Siamese called Griot (1st and Third photos above). “Griot is named after the magicians in the courts of West African kings,” Himes said in a 1972 interview. Griot was Himes’s constant travel companion. When the If He Hollers Let Him Go author didn’t bring Griot along during his adventures, Himes paid the price. In a 1971 interview Himes gave while in Stuttgart, Germany, he claimed he couldn’t stay away from home too long since Griot would “certainly destroy [his] studio back home and chew up all [his] books.” 

After Griot passed away, Himes kept a kitty named Deros, who the writer loved for her sweet personality.

The Mysterious Pull of Mystery Novels: Guest Post by Carol Snow

I’ve always loved mysteries. As a child, I plowed through worn library copies of The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew, pages soft from being turned so many times, checkout cards going back decades. Even at the age of ten, I was disappointed by the obvious lack of chemistry between titian-haired Nancy and her roadster-driving, quasi-boyfriend Ned, but the reliable formula kept me coming back for more. What happened? Whoddunit? What clues did I miss?

From Carolyn Keene, I learned cool new words like titian and roadster (neither of which I’ve ever managed to employ in my everyday existence, sadly). From my mother, a voracious reader with a knack for recommending books, I learned phrases that would stay with me much longer. Heroine. Red herring. Plot twist.

I moved on from Carolyn Keene: to Mary Stewart, Susan Isaacs, Robert Ludlum, John Grisham, and so many more. When I finally started writing my own novels, over twenty years ago, it was only natural that many of my plots featured mysterious elements, typically within a broader romantic comedy framework. But as the years passed, I found myself increasingly drawn to reading psychological thrillers -- dark, twisted tales told by such masters as Kate Atkinson, Dennis Lehane, Gillian Flynn, and Denise Mina. The more I wrote (and read), the more I wanted to craft a true suspense novel, something rife with clues and red herrings, unreliable narrators and – of course – a shocking plot twist.

The Girl on the Beach, my new novel of psychological suspense, tells the story of a wealthy and glamorous couple, Graham and Sonia Starr. Graham and Sonia have everything: exciting careers, a precocious four-year-old daughter named Roxie, a pair of luxurious houses on the Santa Barbara coast, and an army of paid help to manage everything. But on a perfect August afternoon, Graham and Sonia’s lives fall apart when little Roxie, last seen running towards the Pacific Ocean, is declared dead. Months later, their former babysitter, mired in grief and hoping to make sense of the tragedy, returns to the Starrs’ beach house where she lived and worked the previous summer. Her first night back, she sees a child who bears a striking resemblance to her one-time charge. With neither the police nor the parents taking her claim seriously, the young woman sets out to uncover the truth.

What draws us to mysteries, anyway? Surely it would be more relaxing to know all the answers, to look away from heartache and anxiety and fear. Don’t we have enough of that in our lives already? Maybe that’s the point. Maybe we are drawn to stories of suspense precisely because the world is so unpredictable. The distance inherent in following a story, as opposed to living it, affords a sense of safety. Sure, things might seem hopeless in any given narrative, but keep pushing forward, and everything will make sense.  

As a writer, crafting ever more elaborate plots has been exciting, daunting, and remarkably satisfying. I get to determine the answers first and figure out the questions (and distractions) later, as I write my way to the big reveal.

Humans are wired to look for patterns and seek meaning, but life can be confounding. Thank goodness we have books to help us make sense of it all.

***

Carol Snow is the author of ten novels, including her latest psychological thriller, The Girl on the Beach. Known for her sharp insight into human behavior, she has been recognized by Booklist as “an author to watch.” With a background in psychology from Brown University and an MA in teaching English from Boston College, Carol brings a deep understanding of emotions and language to her work.
 
Carol's website: https://www.carolsnow.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carol_snow
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/270463.Carol_Snow

Cartoon of the Day: The Session

 From Rhymes with Orange:

The David Thompson Special Service Award 2026

The David Thompson Special Service Award is given by the Bouchercon Board to honor the memory and contributions to the crime fiction community of David Thompson, a much beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010. 

Julie Hennrikus is the 2026 recipient of the David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award for her extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field. As the Executive Director of Sisters in Crime, Julie has worked hard to boost crime fiction writers and include diverse voices in the organization. Julie is also a prolific author who writes under the names Julie Hennrikus, Julia Henry, and Julianne Holmes.

Past recipients:

2025 -  Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich  

2024 -  Crime Writers of Color                           

2023 -  Sara Paretsky           

2022 -  Les and Leslie Blatt

2021 – Janet Rudolph

2020 – Al Abramson

2019 – Don and Jenn Longmuir
2018 – Lesa Holstine
2017 – George Easter
2016 – Otto Penzler
2015 – Bill and Toby Gottfried
2014 – Judy Bobalik
2013 – Marv Lachman
2012 – Len and June Moffatt
2011 – Ali Karim